Charlie Gordon

Charles Gordon (born 28 October 1951 in Glasgow) is a Scottish Labour Party politician. He is the former Member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Cathcart.

Gordon was elected to the Strathclyde Regional Council in 1987 and remained a councillor until 1996, when Strathclyde Regional Council was abolished. He was President of the P.O.L.I.S. Network (Promoting Operational Links for Integrated Services) of European Cities and Regions applying information technology to transport, from 1992 - 1995. In 1995 he was elected to the new Glasgow City Council where he was Roads Convenor. He was Chair of the new Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority from 1996 to 1999 and was elected Deputy Leader of Glasgow City Council in 1997. In 1999, he became Leader of Glasgow City Council, an office which he held until 2005.[1] As Leader of Glasgow City Council he announced a project to regenerate of the Clyde waterfront.

In 2005, following the resignation of Mike Watson as the MSP for Glasgow Cathcart, Charlie was selected as the candidate and on 29 September 2005 won the by-election by 2,405 votes from the SNP candidate Maire Whitehead.[2] In the 2011 Scottish Election, Charlie lost his seat by 1,592 votes to SNP candidate James Dornan.

Gordon is also a trade unionist starting off in the Woodworkers’ Union before becoming a branch and district official in the National Union of Railwaymen/RMT. He is a former President of Glasgow Trades Council and is currently a member of the GMB union.